Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 31/1. (2011)
Articles
THE MEDIEVAL FORT AT MORESTI BASED ON GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYING AND FORMER ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS* KEVE LÁSZLÓ Mures County Museum, Tärgu Mures, RO András PÉNTEK Department of Geophysics and Space Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU László LEN KEY Department of Geophysics and Space Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HU In 2010, on the territory of the hillfort of Moresti (Hu. Malomfalva) we managed to undertake a series of non-invasive surveys, the purpose of which was to establish the limits of the hillfort as well as the identification of new possible archaeological features. Concerning the extent of the fort the geophysical survey brought to light new results and at the same time it marked the beginning of a new archaeological research. Keywords: Moresti, medieval fort, Árpádian period, magnetic measurements, geoelectric measurements After more than fifty years of K. Horedt’s excavations (1951-1955) numerous questions remained unanswered connected to the hillfort from Moresti. This is why we think that it is important to re-open the research and to gain new information about the fort, which is considered by the scholarship a grid-structured border fortification (Bóna 1998,47). The fort in the 11th and 12th centuries was probably a dependency of the early Árpádian period Torda County. Based on its location it was erected for the control of the traffic on the Mures Valley and possibly it was the center of the castle district encompassing the eastern part of the royal county (Bóna 1989, 148; Benkő 2010,222). The territory of the hillfort was exposed to intensive agricultural destruction for several decades. As a first step our aim was to pursue a series of non-invasive surveys, the scope of which was to clarify the accurate limitations of the fort and to identify new, uncharted * This paper was written as a part of the PhD scholarship, Project co-financed by the European Social Fund through the Sectoral Operational Program for Human Resources Development 2007-2013; Priority Axis nr. 1 Education and training in support for growth and development of a knowledge based society: Key area of intervention 1.5: Doctoral and post-doctoral programs in support of research. Contract code: POSDRU/88/1.5/S/60370 The Integration of Romanian Research in the Context of European Research, Doctoral Scholarships, “Lucian Blaga” University, Sibiu. We are thankful for the support of the Mure§ County Museum for the geophysical prospection. Further on we thank J. Petrovszki, Sz. Pánczél, A. Dobos and B. Pap for their assistance in the measurements. MARISIA XXXI, p. 291-298
